tam's travels

September 2006

2006-09-15T18:11:00.000+01:00

The more observant amongst you might have noticed that the race has actually finished, (we got back into Liverpool on 29th July) so a fast forward from Mexico in June may be needed……

Panama to Jamaica

Panama was nothing like I expected – disappointingly lacking the dangerous edginess worthy of a Graham Greene novel, instead having that slightly Catholic, South Mediterranean feel that results from a couple of hundred years of Spanish colonisation. The trip through the canal was uneventful, other than the air of panic when it was suggested that we might have to spend a night moored up instead of the planned hotel stay in Colon. We had our own little pilot on board to guide us through, probably unimpressed that he’d got to spend the day on a stripped out racing boat rather than one of the huge tankers trundling through.

Two days in Colon passed in a haze of DVD watching, lazing by the pool and the obligatory maintenance, then it was off to Jamaica, back on the “right” side of the world again. The race up to Jamaica started, of course, with some motoring. It wouldn’t be Clipper without it. Not for too long though, soon we were bouncing along upwind in some brisk breezes in a race where the other Clippers were never far away. And a few days later, we arrived at the Errol Flynn Marina in Port Antonio, with a 3rd place to add to New York Clipper’s collection.

Jamaica to New York

A surprisingly long stopover in Jamaica, so I retired to the Trident Hotel for some R&R sipping wine on my terrace watching the sunset….. Plus a couple of parties, including a great bash that Glasgow Council sponsored at their villa in the hills, and, you guessed it, maintenance.

A sense of deja vue here, because I’m going to have to break the shocking news that we started off Leg 7 motoring….A couple of days this time, broken by some water fights and swimming, before another Le Mans start heralded the race to the Big Apple. Singapore Clipper seemed to storm off over the horizon, not to be seen again until we arrived, and we spent most of the time playing leapfrog, and then catch-up, with WA. Our medium weight kite gave up the ghost again, though it did give us an opportunity to appreciate how much our sailing skills had improved; kite ripped, dropped and heavy weight up within less than 6 minutes, a far cry from the early days. We won another 3rd place into NY, which put the chance of an overall podium place tantalisingly close – all to play for, as the Clipper saying goes.

New York to Jersey

I’d love to tell you how this race went, but I wasn’t there…..the thought of another long ocean drag was too much, especially combined with having a full boat. Strangely, the one problem I hadn’t anticipated before starting the race was boredom, but on the longer passages I found it one of the hardest things to deal with. All very well when you’re lazing around on deck in the sun getting a tan, but a different story when it’s cold and wet and all there is to look at is yet another grey wave. So, thoughts turned to other options, and the consequences of skipping a section. Taking a couple of weeks off would give me a chance to catch up with friends overseas (especially the two whose weddings I’d missed in the previous months), find a job, and generally sort out my life. Had to be done. And in the end, it was obviously a good move – the crew sailed a fantastic race and came in first to Jersey. Go New York, go!

Jersey to Liverpool

Jersey – almost home. Strange to be back in familiar territory again. A variety of emotions kicking in; relief to be nearly home, sadness that an adventure that we’d all spent so long waiting for was nearly over. We had a stop in Holyhead and then a last short dash up to Liverpool. Our only priority was to beat Liverpool Clipper to ensure 3rd overall, which we managed to – a fantastic achievement on it’s own, let alone considering the age and experience of the crew compared to some of the other boats.

A fun race up the Mersey nearly ended in disaster after one of NY’s crew had to be taken off by the RNLI with a dislocated hip, but finally we were tucked up back in Albert Dock, with a great reception from assorted friends and family. The party in the evening was a struggle against the exhaustion resulting from having been up for most of the previous night, tho’ playing the latest TWI videos provided a certain incentive to stay awake. And on Sunday morning, most people headed off home – a certain feeling of disconnect that it was all over, tho’ for me it was delayed slightly by shooting off to Cowes to race for another week.

What Now?

Well, in the short term I’m back in London working. All the fun of the fair at an investment bank again, though I have an exit strategy in place already – come January, I’ll be heading off to Fernie in Canada to do my ski instructors course. After that, I have no idea. Clipper was a strange experience – almost certainly not what I expected, enjoyable, horrendous, never to be repeated and amazing all at once. The one thing that I did take away from it was that things don’t change unless you make them – the mere fact of sailing round the world won’t make any difference to your life when you get back. So for the time being I’m giving up career plans, permanent 9 to 5 (8 to 8?) working and looking for something else. Just not sure what…..

The ABC (D) of Race 8

2006-06-07T17:01:00.000+01:00

Race 8 was meant to be from Victoria to Panama but was cut short on day 14 with 2000 nm to go as Tropical Storm Aletta was in our path. We came fourth, just twenty minutes after Liverpool, and ahead of WA and Victoria which gives us valuable points in the overall position table. Since then we've been motoring, with an unplanned stopover in Mexico (more of which on another day). Seeing as I was particularly lazy about updating my blog along the way, a few of the highlights below:

A: Accidental Gybe

A fairly restless night as the wind picked up to 35+ knots and the rocking movement of the boat throws you from your leecloth into your lockers every five minutes. Then the 'all hands' bell rings. A quick peek to check that it's really meant, then an assessment of how to get out of my bunk – the boat appears to be at an eighty degree angle, which means the floor is about 12 foot away. Handily Stephen is making his way through so provides a handy foothold, oilies and life jacket on, then up on deck. The boat has been accidentally gybed, dunking several of the crew on watch under water and needing the emergency guy to be cut before she'd right herself. We check that both spinnaker halyards are still attached, then decide to drop the kite. The drop goes badly as the wind's still gusting over 40 knots and the crew can't pull the kite back onto the boat. Soon we can see multiple holes and the top end is wrapped round the inner forestay. Finally it's dropped, and a ripped heavyweight takes up residence in the saloon to be mended.

B: Broach

After a chilled out mother watch day spent watching DVDs, cooking apple crumble and generally pottering around a flat boat as we headed slowly downwind, things changed slightly as we reached dinner time. With beef stew, vegetables and custard all simmering on the cooker waiting for the on-watch to finish, the helm caused the boat to broach – this is when you head too far up to wind, she overpowers and flattens out on her side. The consequence in the galley is carnage... A rather hasty exit into the saloon as containers started to fly off shelves, the beef stew jumped into the carrots and the boiling water from the beans started to spray around wildly. Most of it was salvaged and served up, the remainder was wiped up off the floorboards. Luckily the mother watch that cooks isn't responsible for cleaning up.

C: Can I do this?

I've been putting off going out to the end of the spinnaker pole for six months, principally due to a fear of heights when combined with a sheer drop into water. If we’re sailing downwind someone needs to go whenever we drop the kite, plus there are always emergency guys that need attaching, working guys that need to be checked or sheets to swap over. Turns out it's not that scary at all – tho' I have since managed two unnecessary trips when I've forgotten to take whatever I'm attaching up with me, rope burn from sliding back down the downhaul far too fast, and getting stuck rather aimlessly with only my feet on the boat.

D: Dolphins

It's the morning after the accidental gybe, we've finally sorted everything out on deck and have a poled out Yankee 2 up. I'm on the helm, doing 17 knots, and accompanied by a pod of hyperactive dolphins. We debate whether running a dolphin over causes bad karma... (General consensus, 'yes'). And finally, scooting along under a blue sky I remember for the first time since we left China to cross the Pacific why I thought this was a good idea.

For my 33rd birthday I got...

2006-05-26T16:29:00.000+01:00

On Saturday I spent my 33rd birthday just off the Oregon coast on a 68ft racing yacht... Not the usual state of affairs, and to celebrate, I got to go out on the spinnaker pole not once, but twice; the first time under the guise of having a go when the weather was calm, although Tom then sneakily gave me the emergency guy to attach as well, followed ten minutes later by a call to peel from the medium weight to the light weight kite. As I still had the climbing harness on from earlier endeavours, that was me again, spiking the old kite so that it could be dropped and attaching the new one for a hoist. All actually not too scary, you get hoisted up on a halyard so there's no real climbing involved, just hanging on to the downhaul so that you don't get swung around too much.

In more traditional birthday spirit, there was chocolate cake as well, and pressies including honorary membership to the 'Piss and Moan about Anything and Everything' club from Jenn, my mother watch partner on the pacific leg, whose coffee and brownie whinging sessions made all 31 horrendous days seem just that little bit better. Plus an exra hour and a half in bed during one of the night watches which may not seem like much but when you're snatching sleep in two hour intervals is worth an indescrible amount.

Other than that? Loads of wildlife; a couple of orcas (killer whales) surfacing next to the boat yesterday, and before that a giant pod of dolphins, probably a couple of hundred, making the sea look as if it were boiling over with them. We're still languishing in sixth place, partly due to having had a giant clump of seaweed wrapped round our keel for a few days. But, best news of all, should be back to shorts and tshirt weather in the next 48 hours. Hurray.

Back on the beers....

2006-05-13T19:39:00.000+01:00

Over halfway through the Victoria stopover, and it's been great to be back on dry land in a warm bed eating good food. The city itself is stunning, with the boats moored up in the inner harbour in the heart of downtown. Loads of nice restaurants and shops, though also strangely the highest number of homeless people that I've seen in one place before. We had the crew party on Wednesday, about which I'm going to claim strategic memory loss. Other than that, I've been particularly unenthusiastic about boat maintenance - admittedly I'm flakey at getting much done in port at the best of times, but seem to have hit all time lows this week. Probably linked to the ongoing lack of enthusiasm about restarting the race: current chances of me being on the boat on Wednesday are definitely less than evens, with the only glimmer of hope being that it would be the only excuse I can think of to buy the cool goretex jacket I saw a couple of days ago....We shall see - in the meantime, the local marine guys are doing an ace job of fixing the large cracks in the ceiling of the boat. Those are the ones that appeared during the first big storm that we thought were superficial, turns out it's yet another structural construction fault; the stress on the staysail tracks pulling the deck upwards. Nice. And on that note I'll leave you all to get back to work, I have a busy day of lunch and shopping ahead......

The end is nigh

2006-05-04T09:51:00.000+01:00

Blue sky and sunshine outside, but otherwise at first glance it's the same old same old – icy cold, upwind in 30 knots, the boat at the perfect angle to make life as difficult as possible, and the staysail back in the saloon, being mended after developing a new rip. However...the radar screen is showing that we're heading towards Victoria at 11 knots (that's good) and mother of all miracles, we've broken the 1,000 nm barrier. Yep, only 832nm to go, which means our little ETA counter is currently showing 84 hours. After 27 days that’s got to be worth a smile.

In the expectation that when we do arrive, I'm going to spend the next ten days either working on the boat, sleeping or shopping, it's probably now or never to reflect on the race – after all, for £4,000 you want to take something away from the experience. So what have I learnt? Firstly, that the leg has been much harder than I think any of us expected. And not necessarily in a sailing sense, though the first couple of weeks saw a run of storms that pushed us physically. Tiredness has been pervasive, particularly since we were short crewed to start with and have been even thinner on the ground, particularly on deck, after a couple of injuries. It seems to go in cycles, for a few days you feel fine, then that lacklustre, not quite motivated feeling kicks in, and finally it moves onto the need to sleep whenever you see somewhere to rest your head. For the female section of the crew you can add random crying into that last phase as well, which leads to more tears just from the sheer frustration of being so pathetic about it all.

Secondly, that adversity does not bring out the best in people (myself definitely included). Whilst the odd emergency may lead to some inner strength shining through, the long term hardship of living in miserable conditions doesn't. When you spend four weeks in cold wet clothes sleeping intermittently in a soaking wet bunk with condensation dripping on you, eating meals that consist of stewed tomatoes and rice, very few people discover hidden reserves of humour and kindness. Instead, we become fixated on the minutiae of life, the things that in any other context wouldn't matter. Which watch works the hardest. Which watch were two minutes late on deck. Why have we run out of sugar. Why do people that in any other circumstances you'd like disappoint you when they don't meet the levels of effort that you think they should put in. And no matter how much you know that life would be a lot easier all round if you pulled together, you just somehow can't stop the odd flickers of sarcasm and resentment.

So, conclusions?

I'm never sailing across the Pacific again – the moments of this leg that have been fun could probably be condensed into a couple of hours at most. In an ideal world I’d probably quit in Victoria and use the next couple of months to meet up with friends at the original stopovers planned before the keels fell off, then decide what I want to do next. In the real world I suspect I’ll be back on the boat on 17th May and heading towards Panama, as sometimes admitting you’ve had enough takes more gumption than staying with the status quo. Something to ponder over the next couple of days.

In normal London life, you never really know how you or your friends will react in difficult circumstances. Ignorance is bliss...

Snickers bars will bring a smile to the most glum of faces. Rice and peas will not.

Hopefully after a bit of R&R in Victoria, normal service will resume, contemplation will cease, and we’ll be back to stories of too much beer and helming in bikinis...

Today I will be wearing.....

2006-05-04T09:50:00.000+01:00

Wicking thermal knickers, thermal leggings, a thermal long sleeved top, a t-shirt, a Buffalo fleece, another thick fleece, fleece lined salopettes, oilskin salopettes, an oilskin jacket, sealskin socks, scarf, balaclava and a fleece hat. And none of the above have been changed for the last 6 days. I've said it before, international ocean racing is a glamorous life..

Day 22 and still 1,949 miles to go. This leg is seeming endless, with Victoria still at least 10 days away. The restart to Panama has already been delayed by 3 days to hopefully give us a chance to have a day or two off for the first time since getting back to Subic over a month ago.

Plus, I have to say, relentless upwind sailing is not how it was advertised; for the first 3,000 miles we hit one weather system after another, bringing with it 30-40 knots of wind and biting cold. We're running a split watch system so that we only have two people on deck at a time for a maximum of half an hour, though given that you can still see your breath in the saloon, it's not exactly a case of staying warm and toasty down below. The boat is freezing and every surface is dripping with condensation, including bags, bunks and the outside of sleeping bags. Kit in general hasn't fared well - oilskins aren't proving waterproof, drysuits aren't dry, and will someone please make a glove that doesn't absorb every drop of water within a 20 metre radius. Other than that, morale varies between poor to mediocre; not helped by the prospect of being on food rations next week. I'd like to report that I've lost weight but it's difficult to tell when you have enough clothing on to rival the Michelin man - there's been times when I've struggled to fit out of the hatch to get on deck....

But, life can only get better after this. We've spent copious amounts of time discussing and planning food intake when we finally arrive, Victoria looks great, and after the first two weeks of the next race we should be back in warmer climes. And I need never sail across the Pacific again....

Mixed Blessings

2006-04-19T17:50:00.000+01:00

We're currently pottering along with 3,659 miles to go until Victoria, with blue skies, sunshine and a brisk breeze. Fairly much perfect sailing conditions in fact, and one of those days that make you remember why you signed up for the whole thing. Strange to think how different things were 24 hours ago; Easter Sunday was a catalogue of disasters, not least due to the conspicuous absence of any chocolate bearing Easter bunny.

5am; I'm on watch, but we're running a split system because it's so cold on deck. Offer to make everyone a hot drink, and promptly spill a mug of boiling water over my hand. Now have an appealing patch of blisters covered by a bandage that I'm not meant to get wet... hmm, that’s going to be easy on a racing yacht in the middle of the Pacific.

10am; We hoist the medium weight kite. This is the one that ripped in half on the run up to Qingdao, and subsequently had three days spent on it being repaired. Five minutes later, with only 9 knots of wind, the whole thing shreds into small pieces. Collective crying from the crew.

11pm; I'm below decks working on repairing the stay sail (which ripped in two a week ago). Hear shouting on deck and crashing as the boat lurches from side to side. We’ve been hit by a squall, the helm has accidentally gybed, and the traveller system has broken (which is the bit that holds the main sail to the deck via the boom). We now have an unattached boom sweeping backwards and forwards across the deck, and the ten foot stretch of metal that was previously the traveller swinging by one end in front of the helm. It takes us three hours to lash the traveller down, drop the sails, rerun the rigging, rehoist a smaller sail, all in screaming winds and rain. Not a particularly fun night, and one that won't help us move out of our current low position.

In the meantime, Jersey have diverted back to Japan to mend a broken forestay (that'll be the one that was meant to have been fixed in Cape Town five months ago) and Qingdao have met up with a patrol boat to offload a crew member with a dislocated shoulder. So things could be worse...

Days 1-5

2006-04-19T17:48:00.000+01:00

We were expecting a gentle run in of a couple of days downwind sailing in about 15knots. What we got was upwind Force 8s and 9s (35+knots) and two days of headsail changes and deckwork in howling bitingly cold winds and rain.

Our staysail tore in half on day 2, and is currently occupying most of the saloon as we attempt a repair. Luckily my Scopoderm patches appear to be doing a magic job of fending off sea sickness, and my drysuit has been a godsend, even if I do have to be physically stuffed into it by the time I've put all my midlayers on (imagine a 5foot 4in michelin man...).

Today and yesterday have seen lighter winds and a chance to get the spinnaker back up, the boat to dry out a little, and crew to catch up slightly on sleep and changes of clothes.

I'm on mother watch today, which has proved less chilled out than usual; the routine of spinnaker up, spinnaker down, yankee up, yankee down that is becoming unpleasantly familiar meant that watches were late off deck and we didn't get breakfast finished until 11.30. Just in time to start lunch for 12.30, which wasn't finished until 2pm, at which point there were the toilets to clean, the boat to anti-bac, and the bilges to pump out.

Still, a full nights sleep last night was good, tho' didn't make up for the disappointment of finding out that we don't have enough water for showers at the moment - there's only so much you can do with a packet of wet wipes!

Race 7

2006-04-19T17:47:00.000+01:00

Race 7 is an epic 5,600 miles from China to Victoria across the Pacific, with our only points of reference being a waypoint to the south of Japan that we have to leave to port, and an upper limit of 48 degrees, which whilst it stops us following the great circle route (which is the quickest), also keeps us relatively out of harms way south of the Aleutian Islands.

Expectations are that it'll be tough; cold heavy weather, lots of wear and tear on the boat, and the challenge for crew of managing tiredness and health sufficiently to be able to pull their weight.

Qingdao

2006-04-19T17:46:00.000+01:00

None of us knew what to expect from our Chinese stopover, and in the end it was probably both more and less than we'd imagined.

On the one hand, Qingdao is a large industrialised city, 7 million inhabitants, and all the standard facilities you'd expect. On the other, Chinese culture can seem impenetrable to outsiders - the crew of Singapore who complained about being overcharged by a taxi driver probably didn't expect him to be tracked down using CCTV and sacked...

The city put on a great prize giving dinner for us, complete with Chinese acrobats, dragon dancers and Tsing Tao beer drinking competition, and the crew found a regular evening drinking haunt at the aptly named New York bar.

A bit of maintenance, a deep clean, a chance to repair the kite meant we only got a solitary day off which wasn't really enough to recover from the efforts of the previous three weeks and most of the crew seemed to pick up coughs and colds just in time for our next departure. Ellen McArthur arrived mid-week as a stop in her Asia record circuit attempt, with her trimaran B&Q making the clippers look like ten little Skodas sat next to a Porsche.

And then just 5 days after our arrival, we were off again, with 5,600 miles to go before next landfall.

Race 6

2006-04-19T17:43:00.000+01:00

Race 6 started in a blur of crew discontent, soon forgotten as the jostling for positions on the leaderboard took over. New York spent most of the race ricocheting from one end to the other; first in one schedule quickly followed by tenth in the next as we sat in a wind hole off the coast of Taiwan for 24 hours. The Taiwanese coast guard came over for a chat, suggested that they escort us out of territorial waters, and then quickly gave up on that idea when they realised that as we had less than a knot of boat speed, not only would they miss their dinners but probably also their weekend plans.... Could things get worse? Yes. Yours truly was standing trimming the medium weight kite when all of a sudden it just split in two - a stunned moment of thinking "I'm sure I shouldn't be able to see sky through the middle" was followed by an all hands on deck effort to recover the pieces. The next week was spent doing a billion and one sail changes, and picking our way through endless fleets of Chinese fishing boats, all lit up at night like little fairground attractions. Then just when we thought we'd made it, the final five miles into the finish line produced zero wind and a hellish run of fishing nets.

So, in summary we came in 7th, with a shredded spinnaker and a tired crew.. That said tho', we all felt as if we'd raced really well as a team, and if it hadn't been for the vagaries of the weather should have been placed higher, but hey, that's the whole thing about sailing. Onwards and upwards.

2006-03-24T13:38:00.000Z

It's official, race 6 restarts tomorrow at 3pm. Shattered, and could have done with another day to sort out personal kit, but hey, we're just the suckers who paid stupid amounts of money for this character building experience. Next update from China, presuming the keels stay on....

2006-03-23T13:05:00.000Z

Back in Subic and working our @rses off. We've been the unloved boat up until today with only 4 crew back, tho' have hit the dizzy heights of 9 people now. New York is back in the water and mostly put back together, but there's still a lot of prep to do; so far the week has been a blur of sail repair (something was munching on our medium weight spinnaker in the warehouse), victualling and they've even let me near a screwdriver. Plus the obligatory nights out with tequila and filipino cover bands.... In theory we still set sail at midday on Saturday, tho' in practice I'd be surprised - Quindao, which is the boat that they're doing the survey on, hasn't been coded so can't go out yet, and some of the boats have significant amounts of work still to do (NB this is my view, not endorsed by Clipper...). All a bit of a rush whatever, but they have worked miracles in the last few weeks so it's an all out push to be off as soon as possible. My new seasickness tablets are ready to be used, mould has been removed from my boots, and I've had a practice session getting into and out of my drysuit. Roll on the South China Seas.

Back on the road...

2006-03-14T09:37:00.000Z

PHOTOS UPDATED - see link on the right
Nearly time to leave again, flight is booked for Sunday 19th March, and I can't wait. Not that it hasn't been great seeing everyone back in the UK but I'm so excited about getting racing again, plus I desperately need to return to a country where every day is sunny and 90 degrees! New stopover dates below, probably to be treated with a hefty pinch of salt but ok as a general indicator of where I'll be when. As ever, I'll be on my hotmail address in port and seawave email at sea, and would love to hear all the latest news and gossip from home. Tammy xx

Subic Bay Race restart 25th March
Qingdao Arrival 2nd April, Departure 8th April
Victoria Arrival 6th May, Departure 14th May
Panama Arrival 4th June, Departure 10th June
Jamaica Arrival 14th June, Departure 20th June
New York Arrival 27th June, Departure 4th July
Jersey Arrival 21st July, Departure 25th July
Finish TBC

A very short pit-stop....

2006-03-08T14:09:00.000Z

Race restart just announced as 25th March, crew expected to be back in the Philippines from 18th onwards......A slightly shorter trip back to the UK than I was expecting!

The Yokohama stopover has been taken out, making Leg 5 an epic 28 days from Qingdao to Victoria. Not sure how I feel about that one, but the wish not to give up is slightly stronger at the moment than the apprehension at how truly awful it could be. The only other changes are that generally all the stopovers have been shortened slightly, and Curacao has been replaced by Jamaica. The arrival port in the UK is also yet to be confirmed, and may not be Liverpool any more.

2006-03-06T15:02:00.000Z

Morning all,

Back in Blighty, and apart from the fact that it's absolutely bloody freezing, so far it's good to be back. Serious jetlag but have managed to be fairly pro-active in terms of unpacking, joining a gym and getting a new UK mobile;

07950 828327

Hopefully catch up with you all soon. Still no restart date from Clipper but they're promising news early this week. Large pink thing with a tail just flown past my window.....

Not the original plan.....

2006-03-01T11:57:00.000Z

Being in London in March 06 wasn't how it was meant to be... I should have been setting sail across the Pacific, freezing cold and probably throwing up 24/7. Now that may not sound too appealing to most of you, but to be honest at the moment I'd probably swap it for the comfort of a Hong Kong coffee shop. Obviously fate has other plans though, hence I now sadly have a confirmed flight back to Heathrow on Sunday 5th. Jobless - possibly. Homeless - probably. Depressed - certainly.

2006-02-25T11:48:00.000Z

It's time to leave the country of broken boats, natural disasters and political unrest.....Despite the opportunity to laze around on gorgeous beaches, I'm getting itchy feet so it'll be good to be on the move again, even if it is UK-bound. Yep, despite my protestations that I wouldn't go back to London, it's getting to that point where in the interests of being able to do more exciting things later in the year, I should probably put an end to half heartedly wandering round Asia spending cash rather than earning it. So after HK next week, looks like I'll be back in the UK on 5th March. Bah humbug. After which, priorities are convincing a bank that they want to give a brain dead product controller a well paid temp job and finding somewhere to live. Bright side? Might be back in time for our next broomball match. Catching up with everyone. Rediscovering my wardrobe. Mum making me cups of tea and toast in the mornings (sad, but not as sad as moving back home at the grand old age of 32!).

My Philippine mobile number will be defunct as of Sunday (26th). Will buy a UK phone with my first unemployment cheque.....

2006-02-23T01:19:00.000Z

Well I'm still in the Philippines, and still have no real idea when the race will restart. According to Clipper, it won't be before the end of March, and the rumour mill places it anytime between mid April and mid May. Given that we were meant to have a timetable by the end of the first week we got there, and it's now three weeks later, I'd say that it's not worth getting my waterproofs back out just yet....

Last Thursday we headed into Manila for a night, and then flew to Boracay the next day. Boracay is an island south of Luzon (which is the main Philippine island), and gets into the world's best beaches list thanks to White Beach, 4km of palm fringed golden sand. It's fairly much paradise - chilled out, with great restaurants and bars and the chance to be as active or inactive as you want. Some of the Clipper crew here have been extending their 'international yacht racer' personas by doing PADI courses, though personally I've deteriorated into complete laziness. Soon to end however, as I head back to Manila tomorrow for a weekend of shopping (and hopefully avoiding being mugged at gunpoint which apparently is a fate encountered by several crew). After that, it's a one way flight to Hong Kong to see whether it's possible to temp there or if not, just to investigate maybe working there on a more permanent basis later in the year. Then? Not sure. May well be back in London temping for a couple of months, as Leg 5 is looking increasingly unappealing if the Japan stopover is dropped and it becomes a 5 week trek across the Pacific in boats that have only just had major structural repairs done. I realised quite quickly that I'm not one of the crew doing this race to see how far I can push myself physically, I'm more of the 'is this fun?' group, so rejoining in Victoria for the last two legs, having gone to Curacao and possibly Antigua Week in the meantime sounds like a plan. So.....unless HK produces the job of my dreams next week, you could be getting 'I'm bored, want to go for a beer' emails soon.

2006-02-14T04:44:00.000Z

Hola

New contact details; Mobile +63 9217 229 864, it's a Philippine Sim as we're going nowhere fast.

The boats are fairly much all stripped out and packed up in the dodgiest warehouse you've ever seen. What isn't stolen will be eaten by the rats. Still no long term plans, might be heading off for one of the islands at the end of the week for a few days, after that am available for ski trips and interesting jobs; offers to tammyalake@hotmail.com

2006-02-10T08:36:00.000Z

Morning All....

As you might have noticed from the Clipper website, we're not actually sailing anymore due to 8 out of the 10 boats experiencing severe structural problems with their keels. Given that it's the sort of issue that could potentially end up in a lifeboat situation if it got really bad, it was fortunate that it was spotted before we headed off for four weeks in the NW Pacific, and the Philippines aren't a bad place to be stuck. We're moored at the Subic Bay Yacht Club which is fairly smart, tennis courts, swimming pools etc, paying 40p a pint (tho' last night I splashed out 70p on a margherita. Or two). Clipper are offering to fly everyone back to the UK while they look into fixing the boats, tho' I'm planning to stay put for the time being. It would be lovely to see everyone but the UK in February just can't compete.... All a bit unexpected, and quite traumatic for the crew of Glasgow Clipper who completed the latter part of the race wearing drysuits and lifejackets at all times, ready to abandon ship, as the boat filled with water.

What next? The simple answer to that at the moment is that we don't know. Clipper have said that it'll be a minimum of one month before we get going again, but that seems optimistic. The race schedule will certainly be pushed back by however much time we spend here, which will have knock on effects on leggers joining, and RTWers leaving if they don't have time flexibility. A different race ahead if we do get going again. Updates on their way as we hear more.....

2006-02-02T11:46:00.000Z

Top picture; Me helming - you can tell it's in light wind because I'm smiling. Anything above 25 knots produces a look of absolute panic if I'm left in charge of the boat.

Bottom picture; Headsail change. Soaked to the skin, sitting on the sail that we've just dropped waiting for them to hoist the new sail. Sensible people never go forward of the mast...

Starting in Singapore

2006-02-02T11:06:00.000Z

NY Clipper crew in their new kit just before race start from Singapore.

Unfortunately the smiles only lasted another 5 hours before sea sickness and it's associated misery kicked in.

More details on the NY website (www.newyorkclipper05-06.com).

Sympathy on a postcard to tammyalake@hotmail.com...

Singapore Slings all round....

2006-01-22T04:42:00.000Z

Actually that's a lie, we haven't ventured down that particular route yet, but in usual Clipper form, shortly after arriving in Singapore, a bar was located that had all the necessary qualities; an endless supply of beer, a free pool table, a line of high stools on which one could prop up the bar for hours and a considerable degree of tolerance towards rowdy, slightly grubby sailor types. The guys on board tell me that attractive chinese bar-maids also add to the appeal, though I doubt that the feelings are reciprocated.

A super speedy deep clean was done on Monday, followed by a late afternoon merging into late evening visit to the above establishment. Tuesday was spent shopping for new crew shirts to wear to the prize giving; obviously a podium place requires suitable attire. The skipper unwisely despatched David and myself to complete the purchases, so 7 hours, breakfast, lunch, a haircut and a pedicure later, we returned with red and blue Hawaiian shirts (pictures on the NY website). Brash, loud and mildly unattractive. Hey, we're an American boat...Most of Wednesday was spent immersed in lychee martinis in Harry's Bar, Thursday was cocktails and dinner at Raffles, by which point it was all getting a bit stressful so on Friday we flew to Phuket in Thailand....

So, I'm now staying in a small spa hotel at Bang Tao beach on the west coast of Phuket, getting up just before lunch, spending the afternoon on the beach and the evening in local restaurants eating fantastic food, sinking a few cold beers and watching the waves break. On Tuesday sadly it'll be time to head back to Singapore and start preparing for what is likely to be a very different, and significantly harder race than the one we've completed. But that's two days away so the only thing to worry about now is which sunlounger I want.....

One Race Down

2006-01-14T12:20:00.000Z

[update from Tam]

One race down, 8 to go

I’m tempted to call it a day now and leave on a high note – we’ve just had a relatively easy race, gorgeous weather, and finished with a podium position in third place. Altogether a gentle introduction to ocean racing, and one that makes a mockery of the amount of time I spent worrying before leaving the UK.

Life on board seemed to settle into a routine astonishingly quickly, helped by having a flattish boat as we headed downwind. Being on watch for 10 or 14 hours a day means that sleep becomes a pre-occupation, though mother watch every 6 days fairly much guarantees 8 hours of shut-eye and allows some time for the less essential parts of life (whilst I’m convinced that maintaining the red nail-varnish on my toes makes the boat go faster, it seems that the view is not shared). And admittedly anyone who’s ever shared a room with me will know that getting to sleep quickly has never been too much of a challenge. Even the occasional chance to watch a DVD and eat popcorn, which has a surreal edge when you’re hooning along in the Indian Ocean.

And the racing itself? Light wind sailing – in fact sometimes no wind sailing. One night watch was spent on the helm watching the boat speed instrument move from 0.0 knots to 0.1 knots and back again, which is incredibly frustrating when you know that there are another 1000nm to go. And those of you who keep an eye on the NY or Clipper websites will know that we spent 50% of the time playing tag with other boats. Firstly Liverpool, who at least had the decency to maintain a mile or two between us, then Victoria, who at one point were 30 feet off our stern firing oranges at us from a catapult (we take our racing seriously…..). Both of them vanquished however by a sneaky gybe west with 36 hours to go, and in the end we crossed the line with a good 4 hours spare in front of 4th. The usual corporate party has been delayed due to the finish line being at the start of the Sunda Straits, so instead we hove to just after 1am, stuck the deck speakers on loud, and worked our way through a considerable amount of alcohol while we waited to cheer Victoria over the line.

What next?

We’re currently motoring the remaining 700nm to Singapore, which is proving a tiresome task. We’re going upwind so there’s constant spray over the deck and a regular slamming as the boat drops off the edge of a wave. Added to which it’s still ridiculously hot, and my bunk fan spontaneously combusted last night so sleep has transformed into 8 hours of laying there sweating. Not a pleasant experience, and I suspect that the boat is reaching nuclear levels of smelliness. Victoria, Singapore and Liverpool are motoring with us as a pirate deterrent, and night watches seem to be punctuated by one or other’s engines breaking which mean setting up a tow. Still, we’re due in on Sunday afternoon so only 24 hours to go. And before then we have the equator crossing; as the only equator virgins, David and I have to go on trial before Neptune to plead guilty to our crimes. Chances of being let off? Nil. Punishment? The slops bucket being ceremoniously emptied over our heads I believe. Then a can of beer for Neptune (as we drank all the champagne after the finish) to hopefully ensure a continuing safe voyage. We’re in Singapore for nearly two weeks, so a chance to rediscover the joys of freshwater showers, cold drinks and breakfast that doesn’t involve porridge. Then back to the grindstone as we head for the cold industrial wasteland of Quindao. But I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be.

Countdown : 4 days to go

2005-12-27T10:31:00.000Z

It seems that a certain sailing mentality has permeated even my sales shopping - key purchases were bikini tops that will stay put during a headsail change, and a pillow whose major selling point is that it's 'mildew resistant'..... Ah, the glamorous world of international yacht racing. Talking of which, amongst the various jobs that have been completed in the last week, we've been anti-fouling the boat. That's where we paint the bottom of the boat, ourselves, and any one stupid enough to stray within 10 metres, a fairly bright blue. In order to make some vague gesture towards health and safety, Clipper provide us with giant white paper suits, which tend to provoke questions along the lines of 'Why are you wearing a giant condom' on first sight. If you look carefully on the photo link, you may be able to see them modelled in the flesh by myself and Lizzie.....

So what else has been happening since NY Clipper arrived in 7th place on Sunday 18th, which was a good result considering the equipment failures they'd been faced with? Shed loads of maintenance, sail repairs, corporate sailing plus of course the crew prize giving. I'd tell you all the gory details of the crew party, but unfortunately I can't remember that much of it :-)
Christmas day was spent at a BBQ with the Cardiff Clipper crew, Boxing Day on the beach at Cottesloe. Only four days left now, two of which will be spent sailing, and on 31st they make us parade through Fremantle (you can guess how much I'm looking forward to that...). Other Clipper gossip? Glasgow have lost their skipper. Careless, but it seems to happen every race. Victoria have kept their skipper, but gained a small posse of cockroaches. We may have lost a round the worlder on NY, but also may be gaining one from another boat - I suspect we won't know for sure until we're ready to go on Sunday morning.

That's it for now folks. Probably no more news until after we set sail on 1st Jan, at which point I'm likely to have tales of sleep deprivation, flying fish and big waves to tell.

Happy New Year. I'll be thinking of everyone at home when it gets to that auld lang syne moment.

The holiday's nearly over

2005-12-14T07:54:00.000Z

It's nearly a month now since I left work, and to be honest, it feels like decades ago. Hong Kong was fantastic (thanks to Jack for lunch and to Hyj for a couple of great nights out, even if it did mean having to watch the Arsenal Blackburn game...). A week there passed way too quickly, before heading on to Australia, where Perth is, in contrast to the rest of the country, experiencing one of the worst summers they've had for years. Very reminiscent of April in the UK in fact - a trip round the south west as far as Esperance would possibly have been better if we hadn't been admiring the admittedly stunning coastline through the rain splattered windows of a minibus. Looking on the bright side tho', it did prompt me to make the small 1100 km hop north to Coral Bay, who's slogan of 'Welcome to Paradise' isn't too far from the truth. It's a one road town set around a golden sand fringed bay. If you aren't too much of a wuss you can snorkel with manta rays (hey, it was in the Indian Ocean, 25 knots of breeze and a strong current. I could see them just as well from the boat....). And a 30 minute walk round the bay takes you to the reef shark nursery, where about 100 of them cruise up and down just a couple of metres off the beach. Tempted to stay - a guy on the bus up here offered me a job on the night shift at the bakery slicing bread - it can't be worse than product control :-)

So, best bits? I'm going to steal a cliche I heard used yesterday, that the best bit is where you are right now.

Worse bits? Staying at backpackers and feeling old. They all look about 15. And I'm washing up before I use the crockery. Ho hum.

Anyway, the Clipper boats are due to arrive in Freo this weekend, so real life looms. Start crossing those fingers, casting off the last rope is beginning to seem close.

Going going gone.....

2005-11-20T20:48:00.000Z

After nearly two months of each day passing painfully slowly, the last couple of weeks have flown past - it's now only 2 days to go until I fly out to Hong Kong and then on to Perth. I've successfully negotiated renting out my flat, leaving work, having my haircut (you probably have to be female to get how important, and potentially catastrophic, this one could have been), and moving out of London. A succession of leaving drinks and dinners, whilst having been fantastic, have brought with them the growing realisation of how much I'm going to miss everyone. They also bought an interesting selection of presents, some of which probably wouldn't make Sir Robin Knox-Johnston's list of required items.... (tho' I'm sure even he would admit you can never have too many miniature shots of Sambuca). And the fact that the armbands warn that they won't prevent drowning is a little concerning.....

On a practical note, my mobile number will be out of action from the end of Tuesday, tho' I will still be accessing my hotmail account (tammyalake@hotmail.com). Some of you I'll catch up with at stopovers along the way, others I guess it'll be back in Blighty some time next summer, whichever, it'll be great to hear all your news, so keep in touch!

Drinks are on me....

2005-11-07T12:42:00.000Z

Date: Thursday 17th November
Time: 6pm onwards until they throw us out.
Venue: Plateau, Canary Wharf (take the lifts on the right as you face Waitrose).
What to bring: The ability to drink lots.

Given that I've already had to sell a kidney to pay for Clipper, I'd suggest you turn up early if you're expecting to see any of the tab.....

And they're off....

2005-09-19T18:21:00.000+01:00

Well the race has started, and 10 small boats are currently bobbing about in the Irish Sea. Only 24 hours into the Clipper 05-06, and there's already been a casualty (broken ankle on Jersey Clipper) which obviously fills me with reassurance and excitement about joining them in Fremantle....Would anyone mind if I just spent 6 months on the beach in some far-flung country?

An interesting last week of boat prep; highlights, in no particular order were

1) finding out that the rudder on the boat is broken. No cranes available to lift the boat out of the water so they've decided to risk it down to Portugal :-(

2) seeing our esteemed skipper dressed up as Captain America for his birthday, complete with blue tights, red speedos and a swimming cap. Worryingly, staff at Walkabout were happy to let him in but not Lee who was wearing shorts....

3) being asked by at least 100 pensioners why we were taking the labels of the cans of food (the answer for the uninitiated is that they inevitably fall off so it's easier to admit defeat and label the cans before you set sail). Then being asked how much we were selling the corned beef for. Closely followed by constantly being watched by people standing on the dock (I think that's the end of my Big Brother ambitions)

The fun bits (crew party and nights out in Liverpool) unfortunately soon seemed to come to an end tho', and the big day of the race start arrived, accompanied by the inevitable angst, nerves and borderline tears (and I'm not even leaving yet). New York was in 4th place as they headed out of the Mersey, so now it's just a case of watching the race viewer and hoping that both boat and crew make it intact to Western Australia.

The last week of training

2005-08-18T19:06:00.000+01:00

Well the last week of training is over, and saw us sailing from Gosport to Cardiff in 'race' mode - which broadly means no sleep and powdered milk. Pictures of the boat are on the 'photos' link, to disprove any ideas that you might have that this is actually a luxury cruise round the world.... Also a few of the naming ceremony.

Stopovers

In between sailing 35,000 miles, there are a few stopovers.....so if anyone happens to be in any of these places / needs an excuse for a holiday, it would be great to see you; after three weeks of spending 24 hours a day with the same 8 people on watch I'll be desperate for non-boat related conversation and someone to have a beer or two with.....

I'll be adding a link with dates and locations soon - arrival dates are slightly flexible - particularly if they let me navigate...

First post

2005-08-15T17:00:00.000+01:00

A first little message with the pic of Tam's boat that she sent out a few weeks ago - rather her in there than me!

Si
(little bro)